Open Reach Advice

I like at the end of a road which has had five new houses built.

Open reach have installed internet in 3 of the five new builds, the other two houses are unfinished.

Looking online they have installed Full Fibre with speeds unto 900mb, My house which is 30/40meters away form where the underground cable will be ending is currently on over head wires and gets 54Mbps.

How do I go about getting Open reach to connect me to the Full Fibre they are laying for the new houses? My concern is once they have finished and If I'm not connected my home will be forgotten about as it won't be considered for any future area upgrades as I'll now be at the end of a road which has full Fibre, all be it not to my house.

Any suggestions on getting Open reach to run the cabe to my property. I can't seam to get a number to phone them direct.

In reply to a post by laststar:

How do I go about getting Open reach to connect me to the Full Fibre they are laying for the new houses? My concern is once they have finished and If I'm not connected my home will be forgotten about as it won't be considered for any future area upgrades as I'll now be at the end of a road which has full Fibre, all be it not to my house.

Any suggestions on getting Open reach to run the cabe to my property. I can't seam to get a number to phone them direct.

The official, but expensive, way is to order FTTP On Demand - a product which is rumoured to be withdrawn shortly. There is a "near network trial" which runs to the end of this month, and means you pay a fixed cost if your property is within the footprint of an existing splitter, and some other conditions.

However, the costs are high. You can find breakdowns here and here from people who've had it done, but what you can expect is:
* £250+VAT survey fee (non-refundable, paid up front; the rest is paid before construction starts)
* £1625+VAT Openreach installation fee
* £495+VAT BT Wholesale connection fee
* £500+VAT Cerberus connection fee
* A higher-than normal broadband rental for the first year: e.g. £60+VAT per month for a 300/50 service.

(Those figures are not guaranteed. If the survey reveals a problem which means you're not eligible for the near-network pricing, you may get a higher quote - perhaps thousands higher. At this point you can drop out, but you don't get your £250+VAT survey fee back).

That makes £3590+VAT = £4,308 for the first year's service. After that, you're back to standard FTTP charges from an ISP of your choice.

Assuming this is an easy install, you can still expect to wait 4-6 months from placing the survey order to getting live service. So the question is, how long would it be for Openreach to install this at their own expense? You *could* be left out for a long time, but equally you *could* become part of an in-fill programme, one of the "quick wins" which Openreach spot.

The other approach is to make an enquiry to Openreach directly using the form here:
https://www.openreach.com/forms/fibre-broadband-avai...

Try "I cannot get fibre but my neighbours can". Include specifics of the other properties which can. You *might* be lucky and this might trigger them to extend the network.

Edited by candlerb (Tue 24-May-22 11:13:00)

Are you in one of the new builds or not?

In reply to a post by jpm:

Are you in one of the new builds or not?

5 new builds, 3 have FTTP and the other 2 are unfinished so I believe the answer is no

No, I’m actually in a house at the end of the road. The new houses have been built between myself and the main road buy a private developer who purchased the land from the old church.

Therefore, it sounds like Openreach would have to extend the FTTP network *beyond* the new houses to reach you, albeit not by much.

Most new build developments of more than 2 houses have FTTP these days; it comes at relatively low cost to the developer. Hence this is probably still an "island" of FTTP in your town or village.

When Openreach eventually come back to fill in the rest of the area, it's unlikely that you will be missed simply because *some* houses in your road already have FTTP. Their records will show the existing copper connections. But equally, you won't have any priority over anyone else in terms of getting FTTP. You'll get it when everyone else does.

So if you want it now, FTTPoD sounds like your only option. But £4,000 buys a lot of Starlink and/or 4G.

llaststar

As Dect says best way is using the OR form and if you are lucky they will be able to serve you from the same CBT if your pole is served from the same duct. Would be much easier if you were ducted as well.

I assume the new houses are ducted not Overhead. You could always ask the builder to run some duct the extra 50m as the CBT is likely to have 8 ports and therefore some spare from the 5 new houses.

In reply to a post by kitcat:

As Dect says best way is using the OR form

It was candlerb not me, If I only knew half the stuff he does I would be extremely happy

Edited by deleted (Tue 24-May-22 14:00:10)

Interestingly after sending an email to the Open reach CEO I've had a response and a phone call form them today.

Unfortunetly its not sounding too promising. Because the street has been developed and paid for privately they won't just add me onto the Full fibre network at the same time because the developer has paid for it, even if I was happy to pay the cost. They've stated that they'll look into any upcoming project in the area to see if I can get it before 2026 and come back to me. Sounds like an absolute farce that they won't do it.

Next email is to the developer to see if there any way of getting added on via them .

The usual point is "where do they stop?". If they are doing 5 houses for a developed then why wouldn't they do the neighbours as well? But then, if they are doing the neighbours then why wouldn't they do their neighbours? And then their neighbours? Etc, etc. At some point they have to have a boundary - the simplest boundary is the area that has been requested by the developer - if they go any further than this then everyone will be saying "but my neighbour got it so why haven't I". Unless they do whole urban areas at once there will always be a neighbour on the edge of the provision that says "why not me".

In reply to a post by laststar:

Because the street has been developed and paid for privately they won't just add me onto the Full fibre network at the same time because the developer has paid for it

That's actually a very reasonable response, and it's good that you got it promptly.

The amounts that developers have to pay per property are published; but the developer is required to install ducting to Openreach's specification, and all the connections Openreach makes are within the same area.

If the developer were building 6 new plots instead of 5 it would have only cost them £600 more to connect fibre; but that's not the same as building out the network to a completely unrelated property outside of the development.

In reply to a post by laststar:

Sounds like an absolute farce that they won't do it.

The developer will have paid £9000+VAT for those 5 properties. Openreach will still have heavily subsidised the cost of getting fibre to the development, although they've avoided the cost of installing copper.

If you go for FTTPoD it will cost you around £3000+VAT, and will make fibre available to all properties served by your pole. That piggybacks onto the subsidy that Openreach have already made.

If you don't want to pay that, I'm afraid you wait.

If you do want to order FTTPoD, get your order in this week. From the end of May, you may lose the current discounted pricing for near-network connections. (And this is heavily discounted; normally people pay £8000+VAT or more for FTTPoD)

In reply to a post by kitcat:

I assume the new houses are ducted not Overhead. You could always ask the builder to run some duct the extra 50m as the CBT is likely to have 8 ports and therefore some spare from the 5 new houses.

50m of duct in a street is not really a "as a favour" type of ask.

In reply to a post by jpm:

In reply to a post by kitcat:

I assume the new houses are ducted not Overhead. You could always ask the builder to run some duct the extra 50m as the CBT is likely to have 8 ports and therefore some spare from the 5 new houses.

50m of duct in a street is not really a "as a favour" type of ask.

Nor is it even allowed, without permits from the council, and/or code powers.

if the supplied cbt for the new builds has 8 ports could the op be connected to a spare one and the cable flown to his house? I believe the pre made fibre cables come in up to 300m lengths and assuming he has an overhead feed. pics might help

Edited by threelegs (Tue 24-May-22 20:10:08)

Openreach don't connect ad-hoc.

If the OP's property were within the design footprint of that CBT, then he could order today.

He can't, which means the designs show a separate CBT for serving his property. And therefore, he cannot order until that CBT is built and connected to its serving splitter.

Though the CBT might be 8 ports, it doesn’t mean they are all lit.

In reply to a post by threelegs:

if the supplied cbt for the new builds has 8 ports could the op be connected to a spare one and the cable flown to his house? I believe the pre made fibre cables come in up to 300m lengths and assuming he has an overhead feed. pics might help

Think OP mentioned that they are on a pole but the new properties are fed underground.

No route to the CBT without digging by the sound of it, and Openreach aren't going to install a new pole to act as carrier pole because a household really wants FTTP and is persistent.

Apart from anything else if they did this it would set a bad precedent. Openreach built to those new builds because they were paid to, it would be crazy to interrupt the local and in turn national work flow to build to a single pole here and chamber there to placate people unhappy the new builds down the road have full fibre.

In reply to a post by laststar:

Next email is to the developer to see if there any way of getting added on via them .

Full disclosure: I have a relatively new build that has full fibre, and have worked with new build.

The developer at the end of it all never pays, the residents do as part of their purchase price.

The developer I purchased from had no idea about it really, they saw some sales pitch and it was a relatively small amount more expensive than copper.

The developer signed a contract with Openreach before construction with the exact details of properties on it. Openreach provided them materials and they built the ducts on their land. They did nothing as far as public land not belonging to them goes, Openreach extended their ducting onto the site and the developer built from this lead-in.

Apologies in advance for the doom and gloom.

There is no way the developer can build ducting or other infrastructure to you. Only Openreach could do this, and you've had their answer. There is no way they can revisit their contract with Openreach, it's signed and being delivered. Openreach have the site plans, know your property isn't on there, and will not treat it as a new build. If the developer tried to blag them it wouldn't go well.

Even just contacting Openreach on this will cost the developer time and money and, frankly, you aren't their customer and any time they give you is a courtesy. People have paid them 6-figures for properties with full fibre included. There will have been conditions in the planning permission but building full fibre to you isn't one of them.

Of course it couldn't hurt to send the email, it is your time, but don't get your hopes up. There is as I said literally no way the developer can help you in any way besides with money, and the business case to do that isn't great.

As far as money goes Openreach pay the first £3,400 + VAT to reach a new build. The developer here paid another £1,800 + VAT per property. On those rates you're looking at £6,000. This is not actually representative of costs for existing properties. You'd probably be better served looking into FTTP on demand.

As far as Openreach forgetting about you goes if anything this might help a very little in moving you up the list, but either way they will be aware what has and doesn't have full fibre available and it won't have sent you down their priority list.

In my experience the only way to get full fibre from a developer is to buy one of their properties with full fibre from the beginning. Once the deal is closed they are unlikely to pay for upgrades and that's their own customers, not the folks down the road.

Thats correct. The CBT will be ring-fenced to new builds that's paid for it.

The developer at the end of it all never pays, the residents do as part of their purchase price.

By that same definition the developer never pays for the bricks, mortar, wiring, sockets, pipes, tiles, etc, etc. The developer does pay as they are the ones that get the bills and will pay OpenReach for it. Just because those costs are passed on with the house sale doesn't mean that it isn't paid for by the developer - and the developer could choose not to pay it but if they don't they may find the value of the house is lower.

In reply to a post by ian72:

The developer at the end of it all never pays, the residents do as part of their purchase price.

By that same definition the developer never pays for the bricks, mortar, wiring, sockets, pipes, tiles, etc, etc. The developer does pay as they are the ones that get the bills and will pay OpenReach for it. Just because those costs are passed on with the house sale doesn't mean that it isn't paid for by the developer - and the developer could choose not to pay it but if they don't they may find the value of the house is lower.

'... at the end of it all'. My apologies if it wasn't clear that I was referring to the entire process and whose money is, eventually, the source of the funds.